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Tried running the program in compatibility mode?

Right click on the game shortcut, properties, compatibility and then set it to Windows 2000 or lower. It should work then.

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Did you change you're language to English/US before Installing? Install the application again (just run the *.exe file in the Update folder)

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Hi dear forum members,

I come here in the hope to put some fresh news... we definitely have to find a solution to this problem !

Levelworm, I have the exact same symptoms as yours, and I stopped counting the hours, probably days, I spent trying to solve this problem.

So I tried many things, updating drivers, running as admin, using various compatibility modes, the usual stuff... with no luck.

I created a virtual sound device with Virtual Audio Cable, disconnecting it from any real hardware sound device, so HOMM3 was still behaving like there was a sound output, but I heared nothing, and it still crashed with the same symptoms.

I tried the [url=http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=24da89e9-b581-47b0-b45e-492dd6da2971]Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit[/url] with which it's possible to try a bunch of additional so called "Compatibility fixes". Eventually, I tried whatever seemed related to DirectX or sound, with no luck, but there are still many to be tried.

The sound in HOMM3 is not handled by DirectShow filters or whatever it was at the time of Win98, but rather by the Miles Sound System. The infamous MP3DEC.ASI is part of that system, so of course I suspected it very much... I managed to contact the MSS team, working at the Rad Game Tools Company, and they kindly replied to me, including John Miles himself, the creator of the MSS. I will post their replies here later... those make me feel MSS was not the culprit, and MP3DEC.ASI not so infamous, finally

Anyway, since I was a little stubborn, I found a patch redirecting MP3 playback to DirectShow filters instead. Its primary aim was to get stereo sound which for some reason I don't know isn't available in the game... anyway I didn't work either, and I got NTDLL.DLL as the current module during crash instead. So that very likely rules out a problem from inside MSS, IMO. I will send you links to that patch later, in case you want to try it by yourselves (btw, I know it may seem stupid but I've been so much used to the mono sound that I prefer it like that ).

Finally, I was about to retry more compatibility fixes with the MS toolkit, but I suddenly thought about the "Testing" screen, you know, the first time you run the game you get that screen for a few seconds, it evaluates your computer's performance levels and must write some information about it somewhere... maybe there are bad parameters here, so it would be good if someone with a non-crashing HOMM3 could send us his parameters. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they seemed to be in the registry. Mine follow :

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic� III\1.0]
"Show Intro"=dword:00000001
"AppPath"="L:\\PROGRA~1\\3DO\\HEROES~1\\"
"Music Volume"=dword:00000005
"Sound Volume"=dword:00000005
"Last Music Volume"=dword:00000005
"Last Sound Volume"=dword:00000005
"Walk Speed"=dword:00000002
"Computer Walk Speed"=dword:00000002
"Show Route"=dword:00000001
"Move Reminder"=dword:00000001
"Quick Combat"=dword:00000000
"Video Subtitles"=dword:00000001
"Town Outlines"=dword:00000001
"Animate SpellBook"=dword:00000001
"Window Scroll Speed"=dword:00000001
"Bink Video"=dword:00000001
"Blackout Computer"=dword:00000000
"First Time"=dword:00000000
"Test Decomp"=dword:00000005
"Test Read"=dword:00000000
"Test Blit"=dword:00000002
"Unique System ID"="ZO2"
"Network Default Name"="Player"
"Autosave"=dword:00000001
"Show Combat Grid"=dword:00000000
"Show Combat Mouse Hex"=dword:00000001
"Combat Shade Level"=dword:00000001
"Combat Army Info Level"=dword:00000000
"Combat Auto Creatures"=dword:00000001
"Combat Auto Spells"=dword:00000001
"Combat Catapult"=dword:00000001
"Combat Ballista"=dword:00000001
"Combat First Aid Tent"=dword:00000001
"Combat Speed"=dword:00000000
"Main Game Show Menu"=dword:00000001
"Main Game X"=dword:00000000
"Main Game Y"=dword:00000000
"Main Game Full Screen"=dword:00000001
"CDDrive"="D:"

If you're running XP or running HOMM3 as admin under Vista/7 or HOMM3 isn't installed on the same volume as Windows or outside Program Files, your parameters will probably be located at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic� III\1.0" instead (unless you know what UAC Virtualization is, and you activated it on non-default places, but don't bother with that).

I think the parameters set by the testing phase are "Test Decomp", "Test Read" and "Test Blit".

Anyway, it may be interesting to know about your systems' characteristics, and where HOMM3 is installed. That may help us understand why some of us have crashes, and some don't.

I have a laptop (Clevo, model M571RU-U) running Vista Ultimate, 3GB RAM, 200 GB disk (splitted among a few volumes), nVidia 8800M GTX, my sound card (FWIW) displays as "Realtek High Definition Audio" its hardware identification numbers being HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0883&SUBSYS_15580573&REV_1000

That's all for my part (for now) sorry for its length, but I hope it will help us find a solution to this ! I'm not in the mood to give up yet

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Aaaah finally ! It looks like I found the solution...

It very likely is related to the "Testing" phase, during which you see a screen with a rotating globe and a sword during the first run of the game. Parameters are then written to the registry which probably reflect the test phase results.

The parameters are here : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic® III\1.0

Or here, if you're using XP or have UAC disabled or are running HOMM3 as an admin (right-click+run as admin) : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic® III\1.0

And are probably : "Test Decomp", "Test Read" and "Test Blit".

So, what did I do ? It's quite simple :

1) I removed the whole registry key : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\VirtualStore\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic® III\1.0
2) Activated Windows 98 compatibility mode on HOMM3
3) Played

I compared the "Test" parameters before and after :
  Parameter | Before | After
------------+--------+-------
Test Decomp |    5   |    4
Test Read   |    0   |    0
Test Blit   |    2   |    2

Finally, I suspect the "Test Decomp" parameter to be the only problem, maybe it's enough to change it but I'm not sure yet... anyway, you can try by yourselves !

What I know is that I tested for a long time : played ten months IG with those parameters, quickly changing views, entering towns, entering different terrains, in the past with this procedure it could take up to a maximum of 3-4 months (IG) before it crashed, but here I played for more than ten months IG without any crash. It took me more than 3 real hours to achieve this and believe me that was boring, I think I deserve a medal now

Please post your success/failure stories here !

EDIT : Since I played 5 senarios without a single crash, I'm pretty confident now that it works ! The only problem I noticed is that the music doesn't immediately change when you enter a town, it takes some mouse moves for that, and the music changes immediately to the town's music whenever a window pops up.

Plus, it's not enough to change the "Test Decomp" parameter... and XPSP2 compat mode doesn't work either. The only thing I tried that works is delete the parameters (mentioned above) from the registry then starting the game in Win98 compatibility mode, and THAT works

HTH,

NH

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Hmm, I see here in mine(XP SP3):


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\New World Computing\Heroes of Might and Magic® III\1.0]
"Show Intro"=dword:00000001
"AppPath"="C:\\'unimportant'\\"
"Music Volume"=dword:00000000
"Sound Volume"=dword:00000000
"Last Music Volume"=dword:00000000
"Last Sound Volume"=dword:00000000
(because I play with muted volume)
"Walk Speed"=dword:00000003
"Computer Walk Speed"=dword:00000004
"Show Route"=dword:00000001
"Move Reminder"=dword:00000000
"Quick Combat"=dword:00000000
"Video Subtitles"=dword:00000001
"Town Outlines"=dword:00000001
"Animate SpellBook"=dword:00000001
"Window Scroll Speed"=dword:00000002
"Bink Video"=dword:00000001
"Blackout Computer"=dword:00000000
"First Time"=dword:00000000

"Test Decomp"=dword:00000000
"Test Read"=dword:00000000
"Test Blit"=dword:00000000

"Unique System ID"="'unimportant'"
"Network Default Name"="'unimportant'"
"Autosave"=dword:00000001
"Show Combat Grid"=dword:00000001
"Show Combat Mouse Hex"=dword:00000000
"Combat Shade Level"=dword:00000000
"Combat Army Info Level"=dword:00000001
"Combat Auto Creatures"=dword:00000001
"Combat Auto Spells"=dword:00000001
"Combat Catapult"=dword:00000001
"Combat Ballista"=dword:00000001
"Combat First Aid Tent"=dword:00000001
"Combat Speed"=dword:00000002
"Main Game Show Menu"=dword:00000001
"Main Game X"=dword:0000009c
"Main Game Y"=dword:00000118
"Main Game Full Screen"=dword:00000000
"CDDrive"="D:\\"

Anyway if this is the whole solution it must be easily fixed with [url=http://www.heroes-iii.com/files/setupreg.exe]setupreg[/url] utility in the first case.

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